Canada's Milos Raonic, of Toronto, Ont., returns to Italy's Andreas Seppi during the fourth set of a Davis Cup tennis quarter-final singles match in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday April 7, 2013Darryl Dyck
/ THE CANADIAN PRESS

Canada's Milos Raonic, of Toronto, Ont., celebrates after defeating Italy's Andreas Seppi during the fourth set of a Davis Cup tennis quarter-final singles match in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday April 7, 2013. The victory gave Canada the quartfer-final win over Italy.Darryl Dyck
/ THE CANADIAN PRESS

Canada's Milos Raonic, of Toronto, Ont., gives a thumbs-up after placing a Canadian flag and his shirt on the court after defeating Italy's Andreas Seppi during the fourth set of a Davis Cup tennis quarter-final singles match in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday April 7, 2013. The victory gave Canada the quartfer-final win over Italy.Darryl Dyck
/ THE CANADIAN PRESS

Canada's Milos Raonic, of Toronto, Ont., places a Canadian flag on the court after defeating Italy's Andreas Seppi during the fourth set of a Davis Cup tennis quarter-final singles match in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday April 7, 2013. The victory gave Canada the quartfer-final win over Italy.Darryl Dyck
/ THE CANADIAN PRESS

Canada's Vasek Pospisil, centre, of Vernon, B.C., and his teammates celebrate after Milos Raonic, of Toronto, Ont., defeated Italy's Andreas Seppi during the fourth set of a Davis Cup tennis quarter-final singles match in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday April 7, 2013. The victory gave Canada the quartfer-final win over Italy.Darryl Dyck
/ THE CANADIAN PRESS

Milos Raonic of Canada serves to Andreas Seppi of Italy during a Davis Cup World Group quarterfinal match on April 7, 2013 in VancouverDon MacKinnon
/ AFP/Getty Images

Milos Raonic of Canada hits a return to Andreas Seppi of Italy during a Davis Cup World Group quarterfinal match on April 7, 2013 in Vancouver.Darryl Dyck
/ Canadian Press

Andreas Seppi of Italy hits a return to Milos Raonic of Canada during a Davis Cup World Group quarterfinal match on April 7, 2013 in Vancouver.Don MacKinnon
/ AFP/Getty Images

Andreas Seppi of Italy hits a return to Milos Raonic of Canada during a Davis Cup World Group quarterfinal match on April 7, 2013 in Vancouver.Don MacKinnon
/ AFP/Getty Images

Andreas Seppi of Italy serves to Milos Raonic of Canada during a Davis Cup World Group quarterfinal match on April 7, 2013 in Vancouver.Don MacKinnon
/ AFP/Getty Images

Canada's Milos Raonic, of Toronto, Ont., returns to Italy's Andreas Seppi during the first set of a Davis Cup tennis quarter-final singles match in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday April 7, 2013.Darryl Dyck
/ Canadian Press

Italy's Andreas Seppi walks to his chair after losing a game to Canada's Milos Raonic, of Toronto, Ont., during a Davis Cup tennis quarter-final singles match in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday April 7, 2013Darryl Dyck
/ Canadian Press

Canadian fans hold up oversized photographs of Canada's Milos Raonic, of Toronto, Ont., as they watch him play Italy's Andreas Seppi during the first set of a Davis Cup tennis quarter-final singles match in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday April 7, 2013.Darryl Dyck
/ Canadian Press

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VANCOUVER — Nobody would call Canada a world tennis power. Even Austin Nunn, the American manager of the country’s top singles player, Milos Raonic, refers to us as “an emerging tennis nation.”

Improbably, however, Canada has become the Wichita State of the Davis Cup, a mid-major that has somehow reached the Final Four of the World Group, the top 16 tennis-playing nations.

Only Serbia, Argentina, the Czech Republic, last year’s champions, and Canada were still standing Sunday after the quarter-finals eliminated France, Kazakhstan, the United States and Italy in the global team competition.

No, you’re not dreaming. Nine-time champion France and the 32-time champions from the United States are on the sidelines, while Canada punched its ticket to the semis and September date in Serbia against Novak Djokovic, the world No. 1, and his Balkan band of shotmakers.

Raonic booked Canada’s passage to Belgrade with a 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 7-4 win over Italy’s Andreas Seppi in the first match ever played in Vancouver between players ranked in the ATP’s top 20.

Raonic’s win, his second of the weekend, gave the home team an unassailable 3-1 lead in the best-of-five series after the team of Vasek Pospisil and Daniel Nestor outlasted Daniele Bracciali and Fabio Fognini in an epic doubles match Saturday to give the hammer to Raonic. He took care of business and is now 7-0 in his last seven Davis Cup singles matches, his most recent defeat occurring in September 2011, in Tel Aviv, against Israel’s Amir Weintraub.

Serendipity, circumstance, coin flips and good fortune have all conspired to get Canada to this point. Spain sent its B team, not Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer or Nicolas Almagro, to play Canada in the opening round at UBC’s Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in February. Canada’s matches last September with South Africa, which were supposed to have been played on the road, landed back in Montreal after the South African federation reneged because of financial issues.

Indeed, the last four Davis Cup ties involving Canada have all been played on home soil, a huge advantage in allowing Tennis Canada to chose the superfast indoor hard court surface and the livelier balls that play to the strengths of the power-serving Raonic. That’s a favourable roll that could win you a lot of cash at the crap tables in Las Vegas.

As well, Canadian fans are getting the hang of it that it’s okay to go to a Davis Cup match and act like a crowd with junior hockey sensibilities. Pumping up the home team, unnerving the visitors, getting under their skin, making them feel foreign in a foreign land, is what contributes to the uniqueness of the event.

“For me, it (the crowd) was a big difference, especially in the tougher moments,” Raonic said after shutting down any thoughts of a Seppi upset before 5,321 fans who created the decibel level of 10,000. “The support we’re getting is increasing, increasing each time. It’s getting louder. Here, in Vancouver, we’ve been fortunate to play three ties (in the span of 14 months). People are a lot more knowledgable about tennis, this time around, and in how much a difference they make. It’s really nice to see that transformation.”

When Seppi put his last shot into the net in the fourth set to end the two and half hour match with Raonic, the building erupted. But Canadian captain Martin Laurendeau was somewhere lost in a state of reverie. He admitted later he doesn’t remember the final point, perhaps numbed at the thought that Canadian tennis is in a place unimaginable a few years ago, before Raonic rocketed to stardom and turned around the whole equation.

“I’ve been pinching myself since match point. And I can’t even remember match point,” Laurendeau said. “I blanked out, I guess. Three years ago, Milos saved match point against a guy from the Dominican Republic, in Toronto. Now we’re in the Final Four. There are a lot of countries in this competition. Over 100. Now we’re one of the four left. It’s a great honour. It’s an incredible honour. I know a lot of captains and staff had tried to get there before. It’s always been a target to go deep into the World Group. We’ve had these opportunities to play at home, and our guys took advantage of it. That’s why I’m so proud of them. Winning on the road is so difficult. So, when you’re at home, you’ve got to win.”

Now the ball is in the other team’s court, and the task ahead will get considerably more complicated for Canada, playing nine time zones away from Vancouver, six from Toronto, in a Serbian snake pit, with the dominating Djokovic looming on the horizon. Canada knew before the tie against Italy it would be on the road for the semi-final round, whether it be in Serbia or the U.S. That was determined by a draw earlier this year.

But that is still some months away and a lot can happen before then. Injuries could occur, playing form could ebb or flow, and circumstances might change.

For now, though, Team Canada will take time to de-compress and savour the “historic” victory over Italy, which followed the “historic” win over Spain, even though Raonic insisted history is fluid and the current Canadian team is not finished writing theirs.

What did this latest milestone mean for Canadian tennis, he was asked?

“Hope, belief, and a sense of opportunity,” Raonic said. “This result not only makes a difference to the kid, or the junior player. It should also make a difference to the parents. When they think about what they can sign their kid up for, I don’t think you should shy away from tennis. I think we’re showing you can succeed as a Canadian in tennis. That’s a big difference to be a part of. And it’s pretty special.”

After years of thrashing through the Davis Cup outback, against the likes of Cuba, Haiti, the Bahamas, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, Canada is playing with the big boys of world tennis. And it takes some getting used to.

“We had maybe two Davis Cup ties over 18 years on television,” Laurendeau said. “Now, we’re a lot more in the papers and a lot more on TV. We’re getting kids and people excited about tennis, from coast to coast. We’re not in the back pages anymore. We’re on the front.

“It’s going to get harder and harder from here on in, but that’s why these guys like playing Davis Cup,” Laurendeau added. “They like challenges.”

The biggest one of all lies ahead, in the Balkans, in five months’ time.

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